Steko: “the high rate at which East African albinos are murdered is their own fault”

Touches on some of What is driving this fright full practice..the operative term is “East Africans”. The unifying of these once disparate groups into single cultural and economic spheres, is driving the spread of this barbaric practice.

In the Western highlands of East Africa, albinoism is genetically prevalent among the local population, as well as, a strong culture of traditional herbal medicine, or “witchcraft”, BUT no tradition of harming Albino’s, let alone discriminating against them, who are a common within the populace.

In neighboring Tanzania, the dominant culture is based around coastal elites for which, traditional medicine is practiced, but albinoism is genetically rare. The confluence of strong cultural beliefs with access and exposure to populations that historically had little interaction has become a driving force of the spread of this practice.

Becoming East Africans, versus, simply Luo, Kakwa or Chege, has exposed some of the citizenry of the region to the darkest corners of the broader populations imagination.

Except they’re not really thwarted, are they? Does anyone expect one prosecution to stop an illegal trade in anything? On the other hand you can’t really call it a “black market” when it involves albinos, even in Africa…